


Flying with Valka

by mydramaticflair (rainbowshirbert)



Series: Taking Flight (HTTYD Oneshots) [2]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Flying, Gen, Talking, hiccstrid if you squint, i love astrid with all my heart, post httyd2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:28:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24272107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowshirbert/pseuds/mydramaticflair
Summary: Valka catches Astrid out flying and they talk about Hiccup and Astrid's future and past.
Relationships: Astrid Hofferson & Valka, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson
Series: Taking Flight (HTTYD Oneshots) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1724164
Kudos: 50





	Flying with Valka

**Author's Note:**

> I published this on Wattpad last August but rereading it I actually really liked it, I just edited the dialogue. I hope you enjoy, I always wanted to see a conversation between these two :)

Stromfly stopped suddenly in the air while Astrid was on patrol around Berk. She looked down at her dragon before turning to survey the air.

"What's wrong, girl?" Astrid asked, but she couldn't spy anything. She shrugged and settled back into the saddle, telling her dragon to go forward.

Stormfly still wouldn't budge.

"What is it? Are you too tired? We can turn around." Astrid yanked on the saddle, but Stormfly wasn't moving an inch.

The dragon squawked after three seconds, and rapidly backed up, and in that moment there was a large whoosh as a huge dragon sailed in the air just a few feet from Astrid.

She put her hands on her hips, ready to scold the rider for such a close call, but her words caught in her mouth when she noticed that it was Valka. She let herself relax, patting Stormfly to fly next to Cloudjumper.

"Oh, hello Astrid," Valka said with a chuckle. "I didn't see you there." The two of them sailed side by side.

Astrid smiled. "That's alright. Stormfly was able to notice you in time."

Valka hummed and reached out to pet the Deadly Nadder. "I didn't have the time to tell you, but she's beautiful. Such lovely coloring."

"I know," Astrid said proudly, sitting up a bit straighter, and Valka laughed.

"I can see why Hiccup enjoys your company so much. You have enough confidence for the two of you. Maybe the whole tribe."

"Maybe," Astrid said. "But he is way more calm than me. And kind. I don't think I would be who I was if he weren't here."

"You grew up with him, yes? I know your parents, and you were born just a few months before him."

Astrid remembered the years she had watched Hiccup fail at dragon fighting and being made fun of by Snotlout and the twins. She felt shame creep up her skin and she looked away from Valka. "Yeah, it was hard not to know him, considering he was one the six kids my age. But we didn't become close until we were fifteen."

Valka nodded. "Is that when you became betrothed?"

Astrid felt her world tilt as she started to fall out of her saddle. Panic took over her, and she started to breath heavier, but she wasn't sure if it was because of the question or her losing her balance. "What? Of course not. No, that happened when we were eighteen." She gripped Stormfly a bit tighter, feeling the awkwardness of talking about her relationship with Hiccup with his mother for the first time. She knew that Valka had missed out on a lot of Hiccup's life, but they had never had a real conversation before. Gods, she barely even knew anything about Valka except for Hiccup telling her she was a lot like himself.

"Would you be okay with telling me about him?" Valka asked. "I know he could tell me himself, but I can tell he left out a few things."

"Well, what did he tell you?" Astrid asked.

"Not much." Valka frowned. "I haven't had much time with everything going on to really talk. He's so busy now with being chief, and I had to little time with him at the Sanctuary, and even shorter time with Stoick..." her voice caught, but she continued. "I think you would know him best."

Astrid nodded and stared at the clouds ahead of him. "What would you like to know?"

"What was he like when he was younger? Still the same Hiccup?"

Astrid laughed, a hundred images flashing through her mind. Her rolling her eyes while the twins got him to blow up a table in the Great Hall, him trying to throw an ax at a dragon and her catching it without even sparing a glance at him, their first flight on Toothless, their first kiss, them dragon sledding and then getting trapped in a cave, Thawfest where he could have won but decided not to in order to make Snotlout happy, him helping her find the Flightmare, first finding the Edge, her getting sick and him searching for an impossible cure. Her being blinded and sharing a kiss that finally started their relationship. Then the year back at Berk, them rushing around from island to island exploring while they could, getting caught in traps and then setting their own, and defeating Drago.

There were too many to count or list, but she could still feel all of them flash by, just a piece of it. An expression on his face or a feeling that she had. He had been a part of her life before they were betrothed, and before they had even become friends. He was everywhere in her memories.

"He was similar," Astrid said. "Much shorter and skinnier. And he was always trying to act cooler than he was. But when he found Toothless, I think he finally showed who he really is. He stopped trying to be something he wasn't, what we all wanted him to be." She turned back towards Berk, the village that hadn't been given any peace until Hiccup found it for them. "And now he made our lives better, because there's no better Viking than him." She thought for a second. "Except maybe Stoick."

"Indeed," Valka said. "Though even Stoick made his mistakes. And so has Hiccup. There is no perfect Viking."

Astrid scoffed. "I used to think I was the whole package when I was little. When Hiccup started making changes around Berk, I realized that even if I could fight, there was more to being a Viking. Some people just haven't been able to realize that." She coughed and muttered, "Snotlout."

Valka laughed. "Yes, even as a child that one was very feisty. He must have not given up on the Viking ways quickly, I assume?"

"Gods no," Astrid said, rolling her eyes. "I think he may have gotten better now, but before he was always boasting and getting us in trouble. The twins are the same way, but they're a different kind of chaos that you need to watch out for. If you see anything in flames, blame it on them."

Valka turned back towards Berk. "It seems that everything is alright there for now."

"They're probably asleep. Just you wait. I swear they can cause destruction by just taking one step."

"You're hard on them."

Astrid shrugged, petting Stormfly's head. Her dragon peered up at her. "Yeah. I have to be, though. If I'm not, then we wouldn't have ever survived. I love them because they're my friends, but the six of us aren't a dream team. I wouldn't trade the twins for a better dragon rider, but they don't know when to quit sometimes. And I feel responsible for keeping track of them."

Valka was silent for a moment, and when Astrid looked over to her, the older woman's eyes were closed.

"You sound like a chieftess," Valka murmured.

Astrid pulled a face and looked away. "No I don't. I'm not-I couldn't-I'm not ready for that."

"I thought the same," Valka said softly, looking at Astrid, her blue eyes searching her own. "It's not easy, loving the chief of the village. There will be more responsibility on your shoulders. But I am sure you can handle it."

"Is that why you came to talk to me?" Astrid asked, looking at Stormfly once again. 

"No, this was pure luck," Valka said. "I did want to talk to you, but just to get to know you, Astrid, and to learn more about my son. But now I can tell you have great things ahead of you." She stood up on top of Cloudjumped and Astrid felt her mouth drop open. Valka beckoned her with her hand.

"Stand!" She said, joy filling her voice, and Astrid wondered how someone so full of loss was able to see so clearly and have that excitement. "It's fun!"

Astrid shakily got to her feet, and she felt Stormfly steady herself for her. Valka led her dragon over so their wings were touching, and then to Astrid's astonishment, she walked right over the wings as though they were solid ground.

Valka reached out her hand. "Come!" she said eagerly, and Astrid looked once at her dragon before taking foot.

It was exhilarating. It reminded her of the first time she had been on Toothless and all of a sudden he pushed himself out of the dive and settled them into a peaceful flight. She grinned at Valka, and she smiled right back.

"You're a natural," she told Astrid.

"Well, I have been riding for almost six years," she said matter-of-factly as she settled into Cloudjumper's saddle. "This isn't the most terrifying thing I've done."

"You are pretty fearless," Valka agreed, and Astrid grinned as she added, "Just like the rest of your family."

"You're a lot like Hiccup," she told her. "I mean, I already knew this, but he told me the exact same thing once."

"Oh, really?" Valka said, tilting her head to the side.

"Yup." Astrid extended her hands out as she walked back over the wings onto Stormfly. "I think he gets it from you."

**Author's Note:**

> I really want to meet new people in the fandom, so feel free to message me!
> 
> Wattpad: @heeyitsm  
> Tumblr: @mydramaticflare


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